UN Says Nine Peacekeepers Killed in Mali in Deadliest Attack Since 2013
Source: Bloomberg
By Francois Rihouay Oct 3, 2014 8:44 AM ET
The United Nations said nine peacekeepers were killed in northern Mali in the deadliest attack since the force was deployed in July 2013.
The soldiers were attacked between the towns of Menaka and Ansongo in the Gao region today, the UN mission in Mali said in a statement on its website. The UN sent planes to secure the area after the attack on the convoy of soldiers from Niger.
The UN sent peacekeepers to Africa’s third-largest gold producer last year to help prevent Islamist militants linked to Al-Qaeda from wresting control of the north again from the government, based in the southern capital of Bamako. French troops stopped the militants who were heading toward Bamako earlier that year.
Malian soldiers overthrew the government in 2012 demanding better resources to fight ethnic-Tuareg rebels in the north who want a separate state. Islamist militants used the power vacuum and aligned themselves with the rebels to capture much of northern Mali. Most of the Tuareg rebels have stopped aligning themselves with the Islamist militants.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-03/un-says-9-peacekeepers-killed-in-deadliest-attack-since-2013.html